


Full Speed Ahead

by sanctuary_for_all



Series: Home [11]
Category: Star Trek, Star Trek: Alternate Original Series (Movies)
Genre: A little angst, Babies, But mostly fluff, Crew as Family, Established Relationship, F/M, Family, Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-04-25
Updated: 2016-08-05
Packaged: 2018-03-25 17:00:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 6,452
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3818062
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sanctuary_for_all/pseuds/sanctuary_for_all
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A complication from a routine away mission brings something unexpected into the lives of Jim, Bones, Spock and Nyota.</p><p>(Future fic set a few years after "Star Trek: Beyond," so very mild spoilers)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I know I started writing this well before "Star Trek: Beyond" came out, but that magical, wonderful movie actually doesn't contradict long-term committed McKirk in the slightest. So I just made some tweaks, and the fic is now 100 percent compliant with "Star Trek: Beyond." (There might be a few light spoilers, but they're very, very minimal.)

Jim had been attacked with any number of things in the seven and a half years he'd been captain of the Enterprise, but never a four-year-old.

"Hey, little guy." Jim scooped up the kid just as he careened off of his legs, recognizing him as the son of one of Uhura's new communications people. Once Starfleet had asked them to go on a second five-year mission, Jim had shoved through a test pilot program that allowed crewmembers to bring their families with them. He loved the deep space missions, but he wasn't about to make either the crew or their kids suffer for them. Sulu hadn't been the only one tired of leaving people behind. "We've got a speed limit in these corridors, you know."

"Captain!" The kid – Aban, his memory supplied, Ensign Khouri's oldest – grinned and threw his arms around Jim's neck. Then he pulled back, pressing a finger to his lips. "Mommy said I need to be quiet and 'spectful 'round you."

Jim fought back his own grin as he mimicked the boy's gesture. "I won't tell if you won't."

As Aban nodded solemnly, Crewman Martinez raced around the corner. "Aban! This is the third time this week you've—" When he saw who was in front of him, he skidded to a stop with a panicked expression. "Captain! Commander! I'm so sorry. I just turned my back for a second and he—"

Next to him, Spock held up a hand. "Take a moment to compose yourself, Crewman." The corners of his mouth quirked upward a fraction. "The Captain has the situation well in hand."

"It's okay, Martinez." Jim nodded, then turned back to Aban. "You know you've gotta stay in class during your shift, buddy."

Aban held up his arm, pushing up his sleeve to show an arm covered in yellow and green painted spots. "Got sick. Needed to see Dr. Bones."

This time, Jim couldn't stop the grin that formed. Bones grumbled at all the kids, just like he did the adults, but it had taken them less than a week to see the soft heart that it had taken some of the adult crew years to recognize. They were only a few months in, and he'd already become the favorite of just about all of them. "Well, I'm actually about to go get Dr. Bones and have him come planetside with me, but I'll be sure and have him check out your condition once he gets back, okay?"

The boy considered this, then nodded and allowed Jim to hand him back over to a grateful-looking Crewman Martinez.  Once they'd left, Spock turned to him with a thoughtful expression. "You have a remarkable skill with children, Jim. I must admit, I had not anticipated it."

Jim cleared his throat, faintly embarrassed by the compliment, and started walking again. "Hey, Bones is the one they all go crazy over. I just remember what it was like to be a problem child."

Spock made that "hmmm" noise that always meant "you're 100 percent wrong, but I find it logical to postpone the argument at this time." "Have you and McCoy ever considered having children of your own? There are several options even for couples who cannot biologically conceive in the traditional manner."

Jim raised an eyebrow at him in a deliberate imitation of Spock's own. It had taken him a while to get all the nuances, but after all these years he'd gotten it nearly perfect. "Have you and Uhura? As long as you guys don't abandon me for another ship, I've pretty much stopped any career-based arguments you two have been using."

Spock's mouth thinned for a moment, and Jim felt briefly guilty that he'd apparently hit a far more fragile spot than he meant to. Then Spock sighed. "The same mixed genes that render me irrelevant to the continuation of the Vulcan species might cause their own difficulties to any children I have with Nyota. My mother had a ... difficult pregnancy, and it is uncertain whether the child's greater percentage of human genes would make things easier or more difficult for them.."

Jim could hear the worry in his voice, the emotion more plain than Spock would let it be with most people, and in exchange Jim was kind enough not to make him acknowledge it. "You know Bones would be there the whole way, right?"

Spock nodded. "I do." He paused. "Still, it is far from a logical time to progress to that particular stage in our relationship."

Jim's thumb stroked lightly over the curve of his wedding ring. "Sometimes it's fun to not be logical, Spock."

"So you insist." There went the eyebrow again, but there was also the faintest edge of wry amusement in his voice. "That same comment applies to the possibility of you having children as well, Jim."

Jim's chest tightened at the thought. Bones should absolutely be a father – any kid in the universe would be lucky to be raised by Leonard McCoy – and if he'd been married to anyone else the question would have been a simple one. "No one in their right mind would want to be Jim Kirk's kid," he said quietly.

Spock gave him a pointed look. "I suspect Dr. McCoy would have a different opinion on the matter, if I brought it to his attention."

Jim met his eyes. Most of the time, he preferred the "hmmm." "I will figure out some way to sic your wife on you."

The corners of Spock's mouth curved upward a fraction. "You are a marvel of argumentative prowess, Captain."

Jim's own lips quirked. "Hey, I'm just not afraid to use every resource at my disposal."


	2. Chapter 2

By the time they stepped on the transporter pad, Len was still scanning through the various messages Starfleet had sent and scowling at all of them. "Damn it, Jim, I've got more paperwork for this mission than you do."

Spock raised an eyebrow. "Given that we are about to visit a genetic library that purports to be dedicated to the preservation of every sentient species in the universe, you are the logical choice to provide the bulk of the analysis."

Len shot him an amused glare. "Just for that, I'm gonna make you proofread the damn thing."

Spock's lips quirked upward a fraction. "I welcome the opportunity."

Jim, who'd been listening to the whole exchange, smiled a little as well. There was still tension in his shoulders – Len knew the library's obsession with genes skimmed a little too close to his memories of Kodos – but he was accepting the distraction they'd not-so-accidentally offered. "Don't give him any ideas, Bones. He'll want to start proofreading my reports."

"No worry of that," Nyota said as she hurried in, her voice teasing as she took her place on the transporter pad. She was coming on this mission not so much as the Enterprise's communications officer, but as one of the main consultants for Starfleet's Universal Translator program. The gene library also had a sampling of languages from all the species they'd collected, and the Federation wanted to know if there were any they didn't know about. "He's thorough, not masochistic."

"Speaking of masochistic," Len countered, "I've started recommending Spock's reports to my patients with insomnia. Better than any sedative."

Nyota chuckled as the transporter lights started circling, and as the world around him faded out the last thing he heard was Jim's murmur in his ear. "My hero."

000

Down on the planet, however, they were all business. Spock and Nyota had been dragged off early on to get a closer look at the language database, while Jim followed Len to the gene banks. The library staff was almost a little too thrilled to have them there, with personnel hovering around like ducks desperate to be tossed a crumb of bread. Leonard had barely needed to ask a question so far, even the most casual comments inspiring a data-dump of information that told him more than he could have possibly needed.

"...using the DNA as its own storage device. We synthesize the DNA so that each of the bases represent a binary value dependent on the species, then simply sequence the DNA and retranslate it back into binary in order to read it." The scientist – an Angorian named Dr. Deynor – waved a hand at the beaker-filled storage banks around them. "To aid in translation, we also give each bit of DNA its own address block so we don't have to worry about storing the DNA in order. In fact, we can combine different sequences of DNA from different members of the same species in order to reconstruct the most ideal chain."

Len didn't have to look up from the notes he was taking to feel Jim stiffen next to him, and he shifted close enough to press their shoulders together. He heard Jim let out a breath, looking up just in time to catch his silently grateful glance. "So are you in the gene engineering market as well?" Jim asked, his voice giving no sign of anything he was thinking. "Perfect DNA at the right price?"

The doctor hesitated. "While my people are exploring gene engineering, I assure you the library's focus is on retention only. We have repaired genetic disorders in certain samples, but only to ensure the health of the...."

Out of the corner of his eye, Len saw Spock, Nyota, and two of the other scientists enter the room. They were in the middle of a conversation that seemed a little more intense than a Q&A would warrant. Nyota's eyebrows were lowering by the second, and ... yes, that was definitely Spock's "I am being forced to feel feelings against my will" face. Which, now that he thought about it, seemed like the most likely cause for Nyota's laser eyes.

They may have finally gotten a ship's counselor for their latest five-year run – Dr. McKennah was a perfectly fine woman, for all he'd never be visiting her himself – but Leonard had been watching over these people too long to even think about dropping the habit.

He nudged Jim, who glanced over at him while still appearing to have all his attention on the doctor. Len tilted his head slightly towards Spock and Nyota, and Jim followed his gaze. A moment later, he looked back at Bones and dipped his chin a fraction. "Excuse me, Doctor," Jim said, taking advantage of a brief break in Deynor's explanation. "We need to consult with the rest of our away team for a moment."

Relieved at the "we" – he would have kept the guy busy if he'd had to, but he wouldn't have liked it – they headed towards Nyota and Spock. As they moved closer, the almost-argument became more clear.

"...agree that the preservation of the Vulcan genome is important, but as I told you before – my hybrid nature means I am not an appropriate representation of that genome." Spock's mouth was a flat line. "As much as I wish I could assist you, I am not the person you seek."

"But you're the only one we _have_." The other scientist leaned forward, and Nyota shifted as if preparing to step between him and Spock. "Until we can arrange a meeting with a full-blooded Vulcan, isn't it better to have part of their genes than none at all?"

"That's a decision Spock will need to make on his own," Nyota cut in, the words sharp. Still, the way she glanced up at her husband made it clear she knew how torn he was. "And whatever he agrees, you will not classify him as Vulcan."

"But we have no other hybrids in the system!" the scientist protested. "We can't—"

"What about an Enterprise entry?" Jim cut in, pushing up the sleeve of his uniform. "We'll all donate a sample, and you can give them their own subgroup to mark the occasion. That way Spock will represent himself, not an entire species, and you can both rest easier knowing there's at least some partially Vulcan DNA safe in this place."

Spock's expression relaxed a fraction, which (when you ran it through the secret-Vulcan-feelings translator) meant that he was immensely relieved. "That would be amenable."

The doctor nodded, clearly excited, and Len pushed up his sleeve as well. He still wasn't sure how he felt about this place, but he'd done a hell of a lot worse for family.


	3. Chapter 3

_A year later_

Harry Mudd – smuggler, conman, and all around bane of Jim Kirk's existence – twitched his mustache and gave Jim a brightly hopeful expression. "So, it's back to Deneb for me, then?"

Jim sighed as Security Chief Hendorff cuffed the man for his march to the cell. "Seeing as how this is the third time you've escaped that planet, no. I'm going to have to find something else to do with you."

"Shoving him out of an airlock is always an option!" Scotty called out helpfully from the inside of Mudd's ship. "Jaylah's already offered to handle it personally."

Mudd actually looked alarmed at that. "You can't do that, Kirk!" He leaned forward, making an offended noise when Hendorff yanked him back. "There's no _style_ in it. I can't have the universe's last memory of Harry Mudd be something so undignified!"

Jim could feel the headache coming. Dealing with Mudd had been interesting, the first few times, but by this point it was just annoying. Luckily, the odds of running into him again would be far less once they went through the nebula again. "I'm not going to send you out an airlock, no matter how much that thought appeals to me right now."

Mudd looked relieved. "Which is good, because I have something I think you'd be _most_ interested in...."

In no mood for a sales pitch, Jim gestured at Hendorff to take him away and headed inside the ship. It was about twice the size of the Enterprise shuttles, and the cargo hold crammed with various containers and parts that had apparently made the bulk of Mudd's last round of merchandise. Scotty was sorting through it, the expression on his face as happy as a pig who'd just found his favorite mudhole.

Jim smiled as he caught himself using one of Bones's metaphors. Not that he'd ever actually _admit_ it to the man.... "You know we can't keep any of this, right? It's probably all stolen goods."

"Aye." Scotty shook his head dramatically. "It's just a shame that, for a right bastard, the man has such excellent taste." He set the part he'd been holding back down on the nearest stack, then turned to look at Jim. "I'll have some of my people come in and help the research team with sortin' this mess out."

Jim nodded, scanning the piles. "Then we can see if there's any chance to return some of it." He stopped when he caught sight of a little canister, one of 10 stacked on its side at the very bottom of the stack along the side wall. There was something familiar about them, but he couldn't....

Khan's cryo tubes.

The thought sent a spike of something cold through Jim's chest, and he hurried over to start clearing away everything that had been stacked on top of them. He heard Scotty ask what he was doing, but all his attention was on the small containers. He tried to tell himself Mudd had been using them to transport illegal animals, or some sort of fragile plants, not—

The thought died as he finished clearing off the first canister, revealing the face of a little Orion baby looking up at him through the frost. He stared down at the child, feeling sick, as Scotty picked his way over. "Captain, what—" The other man cut himself off with a curse.

Jim closed his eyes a moment, then hit his comm. "Bones," he said quietly, "we need you down here."

000

Ten cryo tubes, which Bones had visibly flinched at when he'd seen them. Inside were ten babies, covering a variety of different species. None of the ones Bones had checked so far had been more than 24 hours old.

"They're in perfect physical health, which meant that the bastard just used the damn cryo tubes for transport." Bones scanned what he'd said was a little Deltan girl in the next cryo tube, sounding far more exhausted and angry than he had since he first stepped into the shuttle. Even now, the man had never shaken the habit of taking the universe's pain on his shoulders. "Like they were there just to maintain the damn merchandise."

Hurting for him, Jim squeezed his shoulder. Bones reached up and covered Jim's hand with his own, and for a second they just held on to each other. "Probably," Jim said quietly. "We'll get them back to their parents, though. I promise."

"If they have any. This many babies, this young, of this many different species...." With a squeeze of his own, Bones let him go and moved on to scanning the next baby. "Damn hard to do unless you've got some kind of factory going."

And wasn't that a hell of a thought. "Whatever it is, we'll—" Jim stopped as Bones jerked at something he saw on the scan. Bones's eyes narrowed as he pushed a few more buttons and scanned again, then his face went absolutely white. "Bones, what is it?"

Bones didn't say anything, still looking shell-shocked as he sat back hard on his heels, and Jim crouched down and made his husband look him in the eye. "Damn it, Bones, talk to me."

Bones made himself inhale, his voice rough. "It's me."

Jim furrowed his brow, not understanding. "You're what?"

"No." Bones jerked away from him, jabbing a finger at the cryo tube. " _That_ is me. When I started scanning the kid, the ship's computer recognized the DNA and started its usual procedure of cross-referencing the readings with all the relevant damn medical files." He swallowed, eyes still a little wild as he let out a shaky breath. "I checked just to make sure, but we're a perfect match. The asshole _cloned_ me."

Feeling like he'd been punched in the gut, Jim went down hard on his knees as he turned to look at the little dark-haired boy in the cryo tube. Now that he was paying attention, the baby really did look exactly like Bones's baby pictures. A sudden, fierce protectiveness for both man and baby left him feeling dizzy.

Jim wrapped a hand around the back of Bones's neck, steadying them both. "When? How?" He scanned his memory, looking for when it might have happened. Jim had bled over half of known space by this point, but he'd been a hell of a lot more careful with Bones. "I don't—"

He stopped, the realization hitting him. He turned to look at Bones, who'd clearly realized the same thing, and they spoke together. "The library."

The next realization came an instant later, the memory enough to effectively cut off Jim's air supply. Bones, expression stricken, had to speak for both of them this time. "And I wasn't the only member of the crew who gave them my DNA."


	4. Chapter 4

Five. A full half of Mudd's cargo of cloned babies had been made from Len's, Jim's, Spock's and Nyota's DNA. One direct clone each of Jim, Len and Spock, one female clone who appeared to be a mix of Spock and Nyota's DNA, and one female clone who appeared to be a mix of his and Jim's DNA.

Their children, for want of a better word.

Len explained as best he could as the four of them sat around the conference table, Spock and Nyota wearing the same shell-shocked expressions he knew had been on his own face. Jim looked sick, undoubtedly feeling responsible for this whole mess even though there was no way he couldn't have known what would happen. Len hadn't known, and he was the damn doctor.

It was Nyota who spoke first, looking fit to murder. "How long has this been happening? Are there other children out there we don't know about?"

Len lifted a hand. "We've already contacted the gene library, and they've started their own investigation. We wanted to make sure you were told before we did anything else, but we won't know the complete story until we talk to Mudd."

Spock was already half out of his seat before Len and finished the sentence, the look on his face suggesting that he was planning on beating Mudd bloody rather than doing any actual talking. Nyota stopped him with a hand on his arm, but it was a moment before Spock actually sat down again. "I presume that people have been purchasing cloned infants, using the gene library as an effective shopping list. Pre-made children, primed with their genetics of choice."

Jim flinched at the word "shopping," but nodded. "That's our guess, too. Chekov's digging through Mudd's computers for a list of potential buyers, and we'll go after them as well." He hesitated. "But I think the children with the mixed DNA might have been meant as a... bribe, of sorts, in case he was caught. He mentioned that he had something I would be interested in seeing."

"And he knew that Jim and I were a couple, just like you two," Len finished, looking down at the images of the five children on the PADD. The girl with his and Jim's DNA was pictured next to her clone brothers, her blended features bridging the divide enough that the three of them looked like siblings in truth. He'd stopped thinking about having children of his own long before his and Pam's marriage had ended, and had told himself a long time ago that he'd made peace with it. Hell, who knew what kind of father he'd turn out to be?

But here was a whole ready-made family, laid out in front of him. Too much of one, really - people ended up with surprise triplets in slapstick comedies, where the circumstances were far more hilarious than the violation they'd experienced. As he looked into the face of the little boy who looked exactly like the few baby pictures of Jim that Winona had shown him, however, he already knew he didn't want to give any of them up.

From the way Nyota was suddenly staring at the pad, he was pretty sure she was feeling the same thing. "Can I see them?" she asked quietly, a raw look in her eyes. Len slid the PADD over to her, and though she pulled it closer she didn’t pick it up. Her fingers hovered over the image of the little girl with hers and Spock’s DNA, then moved to the little boy who was Spock’s clone, not quite touching either. Her expression had gone helplessly soft, now, her eyes wet.

Spock leaned towards her, making it so their shoulders touched as they bent over the PADD. He glanced at Nyota’s face as much as he did the images of the children, looking back and forth between them with no emotion at all in his face and too much of it in his eyes. Nyota lifted her eyes to meet his, a silent conversation passing between them, and Spock’s gaze turned to take in both Len and Jim. “Forgive me,” he said quietly, tension radiating out of each word. “If it hadn’t been for my—“

Jim lifted a hand, cutting him off. “I keep wanting to apologize myself.” There was a ghost of humor threading through the words. “But I haven’t, because I knew Bones would yell at me for it. Odds are, he’ll yell at you too if you try to take the blame.”

“That’s because it’s neither of your damn fault,” Len snapped, frustration rising up with all the other emotions tangling in his chest. “It’s whatever bunch of bastards decided it was a good idea to start creating a baby factory. What we need to worry about is what we’re going to do next. Beyond hunting down everyone involved and prosecuting them to the fullest extent of the law—“ or shoving them out an airlock, if the former didn’t work “—we need to figure out what we’re going to do with these kids. We can do a DNA match and look through the library’s donor registry to see if we can find who some of them belong to, but the human and half-Vulcan kids—“

“Are ours,” Nyota finished, looking over at Spock. “We can’t leave them to be raised by anyone else, Spock.”

Spock hesitated. “I agree. But the boy—“

She gave him an exasperated look. “I don’t care if he doesn’t have any of my DNA in him. That isn’t what makes a family.”

As Jim’s hand closed over the top of his, Len turned to look at his husband. When their eyes met, Jim tried for a smile. “I know I’m the last person in the universe who should—“

“Of course, you idiot.” Len’s voice was rough, throat going tight at the sudden surprise and relief that had chased the fear out of Jim’s eyes. “They’re ours, all three of them.” He cleared his throat. “Given the fact that it’s our genes in there we’ll probably both drop dead of exhaustion by the time they’re two, but I wouldn’t want to miss a second of getting there.”

Jim blinked hard, his eyes wet. “You might end up regret saying that.”

“You keep thinking I’m going to regret something about being with you.” He shifted his grip so he could squeeze Jim’s hand. “But I can promise you, darlin'. That’s never gonna happen.”


	5. Chapter 5

Before the four of them could actually follow through on their decision, however, there were more immediate things to worry about. They had Mudd, but at best all he was in charge of was distribution and collecting the orders. The people who were actually making the kids, who could be making more babies as they stood here, were still out there with no one to stop them. The library had already started their investigation, but he couldn’t leave this in the hands of a bunch of scientists who thought of life as a DNA sequence instead of living, breathing people.

And there was someone right here on the ship who knew where they should start.

The four of them headed straight to the brig, getting concerned looks from crewmembers the entire way there. When they were within sight of Mudd’s cell, the conman leapt up with an eager look on his face. “I take it you saw—“ He cut himself off abruptly when he saw the looks on their faces, backing up a step. “Ah. Perhaps… perhaps I should have approached this a bit differently.”

“You made _clones_ of us you were going to sell to the highest bidder.” Jim bit out, keeping his temper in check by sheer force of will. There was a swooping nausea in his gut, and his brain kept trying to slide him right back to Tarsus even though the situations were completely different on the surface.

Underneath that, though, was the same sense of people being reduced to DNA strands, and living and dying because of it. If Bones, Spock and Uhura hadn’t been standing with him, a silent wall of support, it would have been a thousand times worse. “It was a _violation_.”

“But I made you _presents_!” Mudd held his hands out, the false cheer now carrying a definite edge of desperation. “There’s no market for mixed clones, not yet, but since both of you are coupled up I thought you’d appreciate a specialty set, one for….” This time, the words trailed off as Mudd went pale. “Not even a thank you?”

Jim was in no mood to play Mudd’s verbal games at the moment. “Is this the only batch of clones that have been made?” he snapped. “Or are there other ones out there already in the hands of _clients_?”

“This is the first batch!” Mudd said quickly. “I collected a list of new orders, but I haven’t had the chance to bring them back—“

“We’ve already pulled those off your ship.” Relief undid the knot in his chest, making him feel like he could breathe again. If this was the only batch that had been made, that meant there weren’t any more innocent victims out there. “What we need now is the names of the people you were working with at the gene library.”

Mudd hesitated, looking torn. “Listen… I understand about the client list, and I can promise you that I’ll stop all orders on Enterprise clones – no matter how much interest I’ve been getting – but I’m afraid I have to draw the line at—“

Jim slammed his hand on the barrier, cutting Mudd off. “Names!”

Mudd squared his shoulders. “My apologies, Captain, but we both know you won’t actually hurt me. We’ve dealt with each other enough that you’ve amply demonstrated your character to me. I may not be a good person, but, unfortunately for you, you are.”

Jim took a deep breath, then let it out through his nose. “You may have a point,” he said finally. They’d expected this, and had discussed their response in advance. “You don’t have to be bad to hurt someone, however. You just have to be angry. Spock, for example, can get _extremely_ angry when someone tries to hurt his family.”

Mudd’s gaze flickered over to Spock, then back to Jim. “I didn’t—“

“We see those clones as our _children_ , Mudd. And you just tried to sell one of his to the highest bidder.”

Mudd blanched for a moment, then his gaze firmed back to its usual stubbornness. “Your lies are getting weaker, Captain. Vulcans are all about logic, not violence.”

“You should really study your history, Mudd,” Jim shot back. “He nearly killed me soon after we first met, and all I did was insult his mother. I’m really not sure what he’s going to do to you, and unfortunately for you we won’t be here to find out.” He gestured to the security officer standing guard next to the cell. “Ensign Rianlon, make sure you let Commander Spock into the cell before you and Ensign Chahine follow us out. As a ‘good’ person, the last thing I’d want to do is stand between another good person and his desire to protect his family.”

Spock stepped forward at the cue, and Mudd went white as a sheet at whatever he saw on Spock’s face. “This is intimidation!”

“And what you did is kidnapping and slavery at a bare minimum.” Jim’s voice had turned to ice again. “Crimes like that are enough to get you a spot in the worst prison Starfleet has to offer, and that’s if we don’t leave you to the mercies of the home planet of one of the other babies you cloned. Tell us the names of the scientists you’re working with, or Commander Spock will be the _least_ of your worries.”

Mudd swallowed. “I’ve tried to be a gentleman about this, Captain.”

“I can’t think of words abhorrent enough to describe you, Mudd,” Jim snapped back. “ _Names_.”

There was a few beats of silence, then Mudd gave them the names they needed.


	6. Chapter 6

They'd passed the names onto Dr. Deynor, and he assured them that the two scientists Mudd had accused were currently being detained by the library's security team. Privately, Len wasn't sure they could trust _any_ of the library's scientists further than his gran could have thrown them, and then there was the fact that he trusted Mudd even less. They had no way of telling yet whether or not the conman had given them the right names, and Len had insisted that the library shut their labs down as well until the Enterprise arrived to investigate.

Jim had made an announcement to the crew, describing the babies as being genetically created rather than clones. It had been a smart idea – no need to drop that kind of weight on a kid just because their genes matched someone else's a little too closely – but it had inspired about half the crew to come to Len with questions.

There were even more questions from the crewmembers who knew that he, Jim, Spock and Nyota were keeping some of the kids, along with a ton of advice and about five different plans for baby showers. He sent the baby shower people on to Jim and Nyota – he thought about telling them to talk to Spock, but that tipped over the line from being funny to cruel – took note of the advice, and responded to the questions depending on how well he liked the person asking them.

Sulu, for example, got honesty. He stopped Len in the hallway between shifts, a concerned expression on his face. "I was just talking to Uhura. She said she and Spock were going to adopt the two part-Vulcan children, but... and I'm saying this as a father, here...." He hesitated, looking like he was trying to find the right words. "Are you and the Captain sure about _three_ kids?"

Len understood.  Without being able to say _why_ they needed to be the ones to raise these particular children, they did look kind of nuts. "That it's a good idea? No." he admitted. "That we're going to do it anyway? Yeah." His throat tightened, remembering the babies' faces. "They just grabbed us."

Sulu's own expression softened. "I can understand that." He clapped Len on the shoulder. "I don't know what Ben and I would have done during Demora's first few years without Ben's mother. We're here for all four of you, whatever you need." He paused, lips curving upward. "Though I make no promises about babysitting."

"You always were a smart man." Len clapped Sulu's shoulder as well, touched by the offer. "Thank you. It means a lot."

Sulu nodded, understanding. "We watch each other's backs. It's what a crew does."

000

Len still had a lump in his throat by the time he made it to sickbay, and enough of it must have shown up on his face that Christine raised an eyebrow at him. "You're not getting teary on me, are you, Doctor? Someone must have stolen your brain."

Len had to clear his throat before he could finish his half of what had become a familiar joke. Given some of the trauma the crew had experienced, it had been a relief that the worse mass hallucination that gas had been able to come up with was some mysterious entity stealing Spock's brain. "I told you, my brain's smart enough to stay where I put it." He looked over at the rows of tiny cryo tubes, currently laid out on one of the beds. "How are they doing?"

  She gave him a look that said he was adorable and she was going to make certain to tease him about it later. "The same as they were last time you checked, Doctor. All ten of them will stay safe and sound until you either open them or get them back to where they belong." She handed him the PADD.  "It was a good idea, not telling the crew they were clones. These kids deserve to be themselves."

"Yeah, they do."  Not looking at the readings – he trusted Christine's assessment, and since the library had recorded the names of the donors they didn't need to do gene matching –he bent down to look at the little blond-haired boy who carried Jim's genes. Unlike Jim, this kid would grow up safe and loved. "They'll grow up differently than we did."

Christine nodded, then glanced down at the pad. "You should really check those readings, Doctor."

Len gave her a perplexed look. "Why? You could run this Sickbay blindfolded. I think I can trust you to read a PADD accurately."

Now she looked annoyed. "Look. At. The. PADD."

Scowling, Len looked down at the PADD and scanned through the readings on the 10 children. "They all look fine, just like you—" He stopped when he realized what was missing. "The system isn't pulling up our files to cross-reference them."

Christine smiled. "I went in and inputted those three children separately, separating their files and yours by the different ages and listing the three of you as the respective parents." She leaned forward, tapping the screen to pull up the notations she was talking about. "Our system will never mistake them for anyone but themselves again."

Damn it, maybe he was going to get teary. "Thank you," he said finally, voice a little rough.

She just smiled. "I expect all three of them to refer to me as their aunt, and I'm warning you now I will spoil them _rotten_."

He had to clear his throat again. "Troublemaker."

Her smile widened. "I have to be, to deal with you." Then her gaze fixed on something over Len's shoulder. "Commander Spock! Are you here to check on the kids, too?"

Len turned around to see Spock standing in the doorway, looking more hesitant than Len had seen him in a long time. "If this is not the best time...."

"Dammit, Spock, get over here." Len waved the Vulcan over. "It's time to introduce you to the concept of fussing. I'm pretty sure your human half will insist on it once we pop these kids out."

"You should become a poet, Doctor," Christine said over her shoulder, clearly amused as she headed to the other side of Sickbay. "I'll give the two of you a moment."

Slowly, Spock made his way over to the cryotubes. "These two are yours," Len said, resting his hand on top of each tube in turn. "We set them next to each other. Kept the siblings together."

"Not only are the children unaware of who they are next to, Doctor, they are also unaware they are siblings." The dry tone did nothing to detract from the remarkably tender look on his face. "They are well?" he asked quietly.

"Yeah." Len moved slightly closer. "Completely healthy, and ready to get out of cryotubes and cause trouble."

Len had expected another comeback – he'd intentionally set Spock up for one – but instead Spock's expression turned oddly fragile. "I was often in trouble as a child." He laid his hands against the surface of both tubes. "I had difficulty controlling my emotions. The other children were... unsympathetic."

Bones nudged Spock's shoulder with his. "Lucky for these kids, they'll have a father who understands exactly what they're going through."

Spock was silent a moment, clearly collecting himself. Len let him be. "Thank you, Leonard," Spock said finally.

Len smiled. "Any time."

**Author's Note:**

> Come check out my weekly posts and original short fiction on my [blog](http://jennifferwardell.blogspot.com) or say hi to me on [Tumblr](http://sanctuaryforalluniverses.tumblr.com)!


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